This invention relates to chip-type electronic devices which have inner electrodes.
Chip-type electronic devices of this kind have been known. FIGS. 4A and 4B show one of this kind (indicated generally by numeral 21) described in Japanese Patent Publication Tokkai 62-137804, comprising a sintered ceramic body 22, planar inner electrodes 24a and 24b and outer electrodes 27a and 27b. The sintered ceramic body 22 comprises a semiconductor porcelain material capable of functioning as a thermistor body. The inner electrodes 24a and 24b are formed in layers inside this sintered ceramic body 22, portions of their surfaces overlapping with each mutually adjacent pair thereof sandwiching a ceramic layer in between and one edge portion of each of these inner electrodes 24a and 24b being extended to one of mutually oppositely facing end surfaces. The outer electrodes 27a and 27b are formed over these end surfaces of the sintered ceramic body 22 so as to be each electrically connected to the edge portions of those of the inner electrodes 24a and 24b extending to the corresponding end surface of the sintered ceramic body 22.
With a prior art chip-type electronic device thus structured, the value of its resistance is sensitively dependent on the area of the mutually oppositely facing portions of the inner electrodes 24a and 24b. Thus, the variations in the resistance values of the devices tend to be large due to inaccuracies in the printing and superposition of the inner electrodes 24a and 24b during their production process.